Into the Wild
by Life of a Genderfluid Boy
Summary: "This cold season has left us pathetically weak! And your so-called leaders do nothing about it! Cats of the Clans, will you stand with me and fight to make our homes pure and strong once more or will allow them to fall to ruin under the rule of these cowards?" Yowls filled the air in response, making those who didn't shudder. The battle of the clans had truly begun.


_magpie_

* * *

" _Watch out!" Night yelped, making the patched molly launch herself_ to the side just before a black and white ball slammed into the wall of the twoleg den. Magpie hit the ground a little too hard and swore she heard something inside her crack.

She got to his paws with a groan as her brother burst into laughter and the twoleg kits kicked the ball in another direction. The black and white she-cat glared at him through amber eyes, "Thanks for probably breaking my ribs."

"You should have seen the look on your face!" the black tom giggled, rolling over onto his side as though he couldn't stand, "I didn't think you were gonna _dive_."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," she said, rolling her eyes and sitting to groom the dirt out of her pelt while her brother finished his giggling fit.

"Sorry but, oh, that was too funny," he chuckled. Magpie rolled her eyes but continued to groom out her usually soft pelt.

She always tried to look her best, which wasn't exactly easy when every other cat considered her to be a tom. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell them, it was that she was worried they wouldn't accept her. They did make comments on how she acted more like a molly than a tom, but then they had mocked the neighbor cat Lion for going to the cutter.

It was rather disgusting and terrifying at the same time, but she tried to ignore it and be the tom that they wanted her to be. Who knows what they'd do if they found out.

"What're you two devils up to?" a voice made her jump, but her brother grinned at the sight of the dark red she-cat watching them from atop the wooden fence. Her name was Ember. Two others sat to her left, one a white house cat named Bell and one a calico outside cat named Patches. Magpie envied them, especially Bell's natural beauty.

Night's reply broke her train of thought, "This genius decided to try swimming in the dirt."

"Because someone decided to shout at me like I was going to be murdered!" the patched molly hissed, tail lashing. She heard the three on the fence giggling and felt her ears burning with embarrassment.

"Whatever, anyways," Night said rather smoothly, grinning, "What bring you lovely mollies to our side of the street?"

"Well, we were playing a game," Patches meowed, glancing at the other two, "And Ember said she'd been in the forest but-"

"But I said she's too much of a coward to do it," Bell cut her off, plumy tail lashing as she looked at the solid red cat, "So she's gonna prove us wrong."

"Sounds dangerous, maybe we should come," Night said, bunching up his muscles and leaping onto the fence in front of Ember, "Never hurts to bring along a couple of strong toms like us."

The three she-cats burst into laughter and Magpie felt herself growing more and more uncomfortable with the situation. No one went into the forest, last time any cat went into the forest it was old Stripes and he still had scars from the cats that lived in there.

"Maybe we shouldn't go," she said nervously.

Ember pretended to pout and cooed like one would at a kit, "Oh, is widdle Magpie scared of da twees?"

The others burst into laughter once more and anger bubbled up inside her, making her tail lash and her voice lower into a growl, "Am I the only one who remembers what happened to Stripes? He still has scars from those wild cats."

"He probably just lost a fight with an alley cat and was too embarrassed to admit it," Night scoffed, still chuckling, "I think you're just a scaredy-mouse."

"Scaredy-mouse! Scaredy-mouse!" all four of them chanted, making her fur fluff up.

"I am not scared! I just think it's a dumb idea," she snapped, ears twitching irritably.

Her brother flicked his tail, "Well, if you aren't scared, go in the forest with us. I mean, there's nothing to be afraid of, right?"

Magpie swore she could've pushed him off that fence and into the next yard with the dogs. He was trying to get to her and it was working. She got onto her paws and huffed, "Fine, but I'm clawing your ears if we run into any wild cats."

The other hooted and yowled as she leapt onto the fence a few tail lengths ahead of them. They made their way into the forest with no disturbances other than one of the neighbor dogs trying to get at them. She cursed every moment of that walk to the edge of the neighborhood.

But, she felt oddly at ease once she stepped into the woods. The grass was soft beneath her paws and the thick canopy provided plenty of shade. The sounds of the forest and the wind created almost a symphony of sorts.

"See? No wild cats," Ember said, trotting ahead and clawing at a tree, "Just a bunch of trees."

They continued on, all chatting and hooting like rambunctious kits except for Magpie. She couldn't get over how beautiful it was. How wonderful the breeze felt and smelled, how the grass felt beneath her paws, and how it just felt safe. It was like the trees were watching over her.

Until something heavy and solid slammed into her side and everything went black.

Her head and side ached as she came to. She had to squint, her vision as blurry as any sound was at first. There was a cat looking at her and a couple of others arguing not to far away. The brown tabby leapt to her paws when she groaned, "He's awake!"

" _They_ are awake," a black cat nearby corrected in a low growl, "Don't assume the kittypet's a tom until you ask. You wouldn't do that to a Clan cat, now would you?"

"Either way, we need to send them back to their twolegs," another tabby hissed, tail lashing, "It is bad enough we sat here this long instead of just dragging them back to the fence."

"They're hurt!" a spotted tabby molly protested, "And hardly big enough to be an apprentice! We could've hurt them worse. You want to be a kit-killer?"

"I'm right here, you know," Magpie hissed through gritted teeth, pushing herself into a sitting position despite the pain, "What did you do with my brother?"

Three of the cats exchanged glances while the smaller brown tabby tom hissed, "We didn't do anything. Pipitpaw tackled you and all four of those pampered kits took off like rabbits."

"I didn't mean to hurt you!" the large tabby who had been staring at her said, ears flattening and head lowering, "I just forget how much weight I'm actually throwing around."

"You have plenty of time before your warrior ceremony," the spotted molly said with a sympathetic smile.

Magpie glanced at each of the cats, deciding they were all out of their minds. She got up and turned away as they continued bickering, trying to remember which way she had come from. It was much darker, everything looked very different.

"What's going on?" a voice hissed, making all the cats whirl around. It was a _huge_ tom. The blue-gray cat was so muscular and just flat out tall, it made the rest of them look like kits. She couldn't help but gape at him in a mix of awe and fear. He looked at Magpie and frowned, "Who is this?"

"A bunch of kittypet kits were crashing through the undergrowth," the black stranger said calmly, tail tip flicking, "Pipitpaw tackled this one and accidentally knocked them out, the others took off back to their nests."

"We thought we should make sure they were okay," the spotted molly said, stepping up to the blue-gray tom, "Head injuries can put a cat in a death-sleep, Asterfang, I just wanted to make sure they woke up before we sent them back."

Magpie glanced around nervously, feeling strange. Why did the other cats keep talking about her like she was multiple cats? It was as weird as their names. Pipitpaw and Asterfang? These cats had to have been dropped when they were kits.

Asterfang turned his attention back to Magpie, making her tense up as he approached and stared down at her, "What is your name, kittypet?"

"I'm not a kittypet," she said, forcing herself to sit straight and keep her voice from wavering as she held his gaze, "And my name is Magpie."

"Are you a rogue, then?" the tom asked, amusement in his eyes that made her feel indignant.

"A what? No, I'm a house cat!" she snapped, tail lashing. The tom chuckled and Magpie could feel the gazes of the other cats on her as she frowned, "Sorry? I don't get what's funny about that."

"Nothing, Magpie," he said, waving his tail, "What are your pronouns?"

"My what?"

"Pronouns. Are you called he, she, ce, or something else?" he asked. This made her freeze up, her mind racing. Why would he ask that? Did he know somehow? Maybe he was reading her mind with those piercing gold eyes.

"Let's just take the poor kit home, Asterfang," another cat said, a ginger tom who had arrived with Asterfang and a few others, "I think you're scaring them."

"I'm not a kit!" she involuntarily spat at the tom, tail lashing, "And my pronouns are she."

"I like your spunk, Magpie," Asterfang said, taking a step back and sitting, "My name is Asterfang and my pronouns are she, you've met Pipitpaw, Teaselclaw, Blackpool, and Speckleleaf. We are part of a Clan, called ForestClan. We live and hunt in these woods, taking care of each other as a family. Snow Sky was hard on us this year, we could use spunky cats like you."

"You can't seriously want a _kittypet_ to be an apprentice?" the tabby asked incredulously, "She is a soft, pampered kit, Asterfang!"

"Teaselclaw," the blue-gray cat said, never looking away from Magpie's amber eyes, "What does the Warrior Code say?"

"A leader's word is law," he mumbled, looking down at his paws, "As long as it does not harm those they are meant to protect."

Asterfang turned to face him, "We have suffered much this past season. MarshClan and HillClan both take in strange cats in times like these. Change is good in times of loss."

"Yes, but those are rogues and loners," the ginger tom spoke up, "Cats who can take care of themselves. I doubt she's ever had to catch anything."

"I can catch birds!" Magpie said indignantly, "Blackberry taught Night and me when we were little so we could feed ourselves if our twolegs left us alone for too long."

"See? I had a good feeling about this one," the blue-gray molly said with a smirk before turning back to Magpie, "I'll give you time to think about it. But I believe every cat belongs in the wild, not trapped in some stone nest with twolegs and dogs. I'll come to the fences in three nights to get your answer. For now, Redwhisker will take you back."

Magpie just nodded, feeling numb despite her mind racing. This was a lot to take in at once.

Asterfang smiled and dipped her head before waving her tail and trotting back into the forest. The others followed her except for the ginger tabby she supposed was called Redwhisker.

"Ready to go?" he asked softly, eyes betraying no emotion. She nodded and he began at a rather quick pace. The patched molly had trouble keeping up at first, but they reached the fence just as she was getting the hang of it.

She crouched, preparing to jump, but Redwhisker stepped in front of her, "Listen, I know Asterfang wants you to join but, you really need to think about this. Once you join, you have to be a member of the clan. You can't go back and forth and if you ever leave, you'll never be allowed back. You'll have to train and work to earn your place. Do you understand?"

She nodded, leaning back slightly and letting her ears flatten. The patched molly was too tired to hold the facade of fearlessness. He nodded, wishing her a good night before disappearing into the woods.

Magpie stared after him, paws longing to follow him back into the undergrowth. But the familiar calls of her twolegs made her heart ache at the thought. She couldn't just leave everything behind to live with a bunch of stranger, even if they understood that she was a she-cat… could she?

* * *

Wow, that was kind of short and a little all over the place. My apologies. but 2,112 words (not counting the title and author's note) in a little over an hour.

But, hey folks! This is the beginning of my A.U. of Into the Wild, it has the same concept (kittypet turned warrior) but with a few changes to fix things I personally found wrong in the canon.

First of all, yes, Magpie and Asterfang are both trans women/mollies. They were assigned male at birth but are actually female. Second of all, there will be plenty of LGBTQA+ representation in this story, if you can't handle that I'd advise you not to read.

That out of the way, this is gonna change quite a bit. The clans have been named for the territories instead of their founders, they worship SpiritClan, and they are nocturnal. The only cats who are not are MarshClan but we'll get to that later.

Anyways, I'll be putting up allegiances and the next chapter soon! This is something for me to work on while I'm fighting my writer's bloc of my main story. I hope you guys enjoy it and give me some constructive criticism/feedback.

Until then,

\- Spencer


End file.
